Thursday, May 31, 2012

Vanderbilt Bound

I realized tonight what had yet to hit me in the past six months; I am going to Vanderbilt University. Of course, I have known that I will be attending this prestigious university for some time now, but it never really hit me until tonight.

This evening, my fellow ILC peers and I congregated at Pinole Middle School for the final milestone event of the program: the orientation. I felt nostalgic as I walked across the campus of my old middle school to the multipurpose room, which was where the meeting was to take place. I titled my head as far back as my neck allowed and stared at the newly renovated school. A smile found its way to my lips as memories of middle school days returned to me. It felt strange coming back. I had changed so much since I left this school, I had learned so much.

" Hey, you have to sign in," my father said, snapping out of my reverie. He was staring down at a piece of paper with the word Vanderbilt printed in bold across the top of the page. We signed our names and entered the room. I lead my father to a seat at the front and began digging through my bag for my notebook. "Make sure you take good notes," my father whispered to me. We sat in silence for a while as we waited for the meeting to start.

The first few minutes of the meeting consisted of Don and Mr. Ramsey giving some announcements, followed by a brief introduction of the chaperones. I listened to each person speak as I scanned the handouts that were passed out. After all the speeches were through, we all headed into separate classrooms to meet with our cohorts. Mr. Mannix, my chaperone, handed out some very detailed documents containing all our travel information. We discussed our plans for our trip; where we are going, what we plan to do at the cities we stop in, who we are to have dinner with, etc. Before I knew it, we were all called back into the multipurpose room for a few final words until the orientation was over.

I left the orientation feeling more informed about my trip. I feel more comfortable now that I know the details of the trip. The final step is done, and I am now one step closer to Vanderbilt.

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THE COURSES WE'LL BE TAKING

For a 3 week period between July 8th thru 27th we will be taking the following courses:

Lived Religion: The Abrahamic Faiths

Chris will dig deeper into the study of the monotheistic faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and have the opportunity to explore local religious communities to learn more about the practices of these different faiths and open their minds to three of the most widely practiced religions around the world.

Pharmacology: How Drugs Work

Yessenia and Hannah Lee will study the origins, properties, and effects of prescription and non-prescription drugs. By visiting campus labs Yessenia and her classmates will examine an array of subjects such as exactly how insulin regulates blood levels and the actual process of discovering new drugs

Yessenia will also be able to examine and discuss the moral and sociological dilemmas and controversies involving the characteristics of different medicines and how their nature has affected our world throughout the years. Yessenia is thrilled to study this exciting and intriguing class that will help her gain new perspectives on the drugs used on a daily basis.

Mystery Writing

Narges will learn about the elements of mystery writing in various works of literature. She will read classic and contemporary examples of mysteries and produce an original mystery story of her own. Narges looks forward to learning more about mysteries and adapting a new style of writing. Narges hopes to produce a thrilling mystery story rivaling those of her favorite mystery writer: the one and only Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.